AT least 14 worshippers have been killed after plunging into a deep well as a makeshift floor collapsed at a temple in India.
Emergency services raced to the scene in Indore after the floor caved in while more than 40 people were performing a fire ritual to celebrate a Hindu festival.
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At least 14 people, mostly women and children, have died, and more than 20 – including a one-year-old baby – are still missing.
The army was called in at 11pm as the desperate rescue operation continued into the night.
Underwater cameras from divers revealed grisly images of bodies floating in the muddy waters, Times of India reports.
Witnesses said they heard a massive crack followed by the crashing of concrete and bricks as the floor collapsed.
As cops cordoned off the scene, families rushed to the temple waving photographs of their loved ones at rescuers.
A member of the rescue team said: “We found a lot of water, so it was difficult to pull people out. We used ropes, ladders, but finally had to dive with oxygen cylinders.
A senior police officer said: “At night, more bodies could be seen, divers entered the well and used cameras to look in the muddy water.
“The images they sent back were spine-chilling.
“Over 40 people were taking part in a havan on the platform covering the well when it caved in.”
Temple authorities had stopped using the well years ago and covered it with the makeshift floor.
Witnesses said a large crowd had flocked to the temple to celebrate Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities.
The state’s top elected official, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, has ordered an investigation into the tragedy.
Building collapses are common in India because of poor construction and a failure to observe regulations.
In October, a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into a river in Gujarat, killing at least 132 in one of the worst accidents in the country in the last decade.
